This invention relates to an ice cream with a low sugar content containing prebiotics, optionally together with probiotics and/or enzymes, where the prebiotics are partly or totally fermented with probiotics or hydrolyzed with enzymes. The invention also relates to a process for making the ice cream.
The term probiotics is used to denote microbial food supplements which beneficially affect the health of the host by maintaining or improving its intestinal microbial balance. The term refers mainly to the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium but also, more rarely, to other genera, such as Streptococcus and Saccharomyces. 
The term prebiotics, on the other hand, denotes sugar substances of varying complexity which are not used by the host and which therefore pass undigested to the large intestine (colon) where they are used selectively by some microbial groups and, in particular, by bifidobacteria and by lactobacilli. They are widely used in the food industry to make desserts, bread and bread products, breakfast cereals chocolate, etc.
To be classified as a prebiotic, an ingredient must not be hydrolyzed or absorbed in the small intestine and must act as a selective substrate and must thus promote the growth of at least one resident microbial group in the colon and play a positive role for the health of the host.
Prebiotics are generally non-digestible polysaccharides, of which the most widely used in the food industry are fructo-polysaccharides, fructose polymers. Of these, inulin is a natural polymer which may contain from 20 to several hundred fructose units and may have a degree of polymerization of 60 and even more. Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), on the other hand, are oligomers with a reduced number of fructose units and thus a degree of polymerization lower than or equal to 10. Oligofructose is a short-chain polymer made up of a few fructose units.
Other polysaccharide prebiotics are, for example, galacto-oligosacharides (GOS), trans-galacto-oligosaccharides, digestion-resistant maltodextrins, polydextrose, arabinogalactan, xylo-oligosaccharides and pyrodextrins. Non-saccharide prebiotics include soya proteins and isomalt.
Besides prebiotic ingredients, so-called functional foods may, as already mentioned, also contain probiotic ingredients consisting mainly of live bacteria of the genera Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and Streptococcus. The most important species used as probiotics in the food industry are Bifidobacterium bifidum, B. breve, B. longum, B. adolescentis, B. infantis, B. catenulatum, B. pseudocatenuatum, B. lactis, Lactobacillus casei, L. rhamnosus, L. reuteri, L. acidophilus, L. fermentum, L. plantarum, L. delbrueckii subsp, bulgaricus, L. brevis, and Streptococcus thermophilus. 
The positive role played by probiotic bacteria in human health is due to specific properties such as the production of bacteriocins which limit the growth of pathogenic bacteria, a high immunomodulating and immunostimulating activity, the capacity to adhere to the intestinal epithelium, the production of organic acids such as lactic and acetic acid which lower the intestinal pH and combat the activities of pathogenic bacteria, antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic properties, the capacity to lower the cholesterol level and many more.
Milk and dairy products have always been the most widespread vehicle for prebiotic and/or probiotic ingredients beneficial to human health. The foods which contain these ingredients may be referred to as functional foods and, when they contain both prebiotics and probiotics, are termed symbiotic products.
Among dairy products, ice cream is an extremely widespread food and has a high nutritional value. The basic ingredients of ice cream are whole milk, skimmed milk, sugars and cream. The milk and cream provide the fats.
Ice creams may be considered O/W (Oil in Water) emulsions, that is to say, the fat is the disperse phase (which may be partly crystalline) and the water the continuous phase, both of the phases being stabilized by freezing.
Fundamental to the ice cream production process is the incorporation of air in the ice cream mixture.
The presence of air affects not only the organoleptic properties and palatability of the ice cream but also its thermal and physical properties. There are thus more than two phases, making ice cream a G/L (Gas/Liquid) foam, where the gas phase (air) is dispersed in the previously described emulsion.
The sugars affect the organoleptic properties of the ice cream but also the freezing point and viscosity of the mixtures. The fats affect the mechanical properties, the melting points and the palatability of the end product.
The food market is constantly on the lookout for new functional foods containing probiotic and prebiotic substances useful for the health of living organisms. Among dairy products, ice cream is an optimal vehicle for probiotic and prebiotic ingredients because it is widely consumed and is considered a nutritionally complete food.